Starred review from May 23, 2011
Carle, who retired in 2007 after 23 years as a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service, recounts his toughest assignment: interrogating a top-level al-Qaeda detainee at two different overseas locations a year after 9/11. As deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats, Carle was one of the three most senior officers for terrorism in the intelligence community focused on al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden before 9/11. The detainee, referred to as CAPTUS, was kidnapped off a street in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, and after interrogating him day after day, Carle begins to suspect that the CIA grabbed the wrong man. His colleagues remain unconvinced, and against Carle's recommendation, move CAPTUS to the "Hotel California," a notorious detention facility that holds the most dangerous, recalcitrant suspects. Following CAPTUS to the new location, Carle struggles to figure out how far he should push the interrogation and whether he is now an unwilling witness to torture. Carle captures the spirit of the CIAâits bureaucracy, dedication, machismoâin a voice that manages to be descriptive, analytical, reflective, and philosophical in turn. Despite the CIA's numerous redactions (the author notes that the CAPTUS story is even darker than he can say), the narrative raises pointed, timely, and important questions about the policies of the CIA and the U.S. government as they ramped up the global war on terror.
September 15, 2011
In was late summer 2002 when Carle was offered a career-changing assignment--the type a CIA officer spends his or her career yearning for. He was asked to participate in the interrogation of a detainee called CAPTUS who was considered a High Value Target (HVT) connected with al-Qaeda. As Carle builds an odd relationship with CAPTUS, it becomes clearer to him that CAPTUS is not the HVT the U.S. government believed. Despite his misgivings, outlined in cables to superiors, Carle had to intensify his interrogations. Carle spends much of the book soul-searching, weighing his belief in duty to his country against his moral obligations to another human. VERDICT Despite considerable CIA redactions of this text, readers will find a frightening picture of what has been taking place behind the scenes in the so-called war on terror, including incompetence, secrecy, and corruption. A well-written and highly engaging story.--Patti C. McCall, Pratt Inst. Lib., Brooklyn, NY
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 15, 2011
From a 27-year CIA veteran, a thoroughly documented insider's view of illegal activities undertaken on the "dark side" of the global war on terror.
As an experienced CIA spy, Carle came to the conclusion that there was a major disconnect between the White House's Global war on terror and the reality he experienced. In the aftermath of 9/11, he was assigned to interrogate a suspected top al-Qaeda terrorist. He details the battles which followed, at least as much as possible under the conditions of CIA censorship—black boxes in the text indicate the work of Agency redactors. At the beginning, Carle was asked what he would do if he was required to violate not only the letter of the law, but also his own standards of honor and duty. Previously acquired interrogation skills led to him to the conclusion that his prisoner was not the man his captors believed him to be. He was neither a leader of al-Qaeda nor someone who possessed useful information about terrorism. Nonetheless, Carle's conclusions were of no effect against the process that was underway. This was only one incident that the author considers indicative of a pattern of the CIA and the White House ignoring evidence that conflicted with the official policy narrative. By the end of the assignment, Carle was questioning how the United States had been reduced to such utter lawlessness. He believes there are still remedial steps that need to be taken to address what he calls a self-created problem of narrow perspective, hyped threats and deluded perceptions. Among them, he advocates the formation of a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission," similar to the one legislated into existence by the South African parliament after the end of apartheid.
Firsthand knowledge of what many have already suspected about the American intelligence community's methods.
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Starred review from July 1, 2011
When CIA operatives are being assessed for their capabilities to perform dangerous assignments, they're given a questionnaire that contains numerous questions, in different phrasings, about how upset would they be if they were in the jungle, a prison, a desert, without a bar of soap. Only a CIA operative would know this bizarre bit of testing, and only someone as witty as Carle would divulge it. Carle was a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service, working on the Sandinista-Contra war, the Kosovo war, Lebanese issues during the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, and counterterrorism since 9/11. He retired as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats in 2007. His insightful tell-most memoir traces the agency from when he was first hired in 1985. The focus is on his interrogation of a senior al-Qaeda detainee, a process during which he was encouraged to get information by any and all methods, including torture. Carle writes with great power about the chaos and lack of moral compass in these methods and his own crisis over what he was asked to do. By turns enlightening, disturbing, and funny, this is a must-read on the CIA and the War on Terror.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)